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DIY History

I love the name of this very cool project my step-mom told me about - DIY History. It's a project out of the University of Iowa transcribing cookbooks, diaries, and letters. Anyone can participate. You don't have to have a history degree or be affiliated with the university either. It's a fun and easy way to be involved with history even if you don't have a lot of time and especially if you're at home a lot like me or have a lot of free time with access to the internet. Give it a try! They still need lots of help!

Another way to be involved with history is another very important project - indexing. Indexing is where thousands of volunteers transcribe documents such as census records, immigration records, military records, etc. to be free and searchable online. Documents like these are especially used by those doing genealogy research about their ancestors. Making them available online makes it a whole lot easier for those doing the searching and you can help! I just found out that they now have an indexing app for your mobile device!

Being involved in projects like these and doing my own genealogy research helps me feel like I'm keeping a finger on the pulse of the history community even if I can't volunteer or work in museums right now. Being at home with my kids is really important at this point in our lives, but that doesn't mean I can't help volunteer in my beloved history community!

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It's here!!! The Wartime Rationing Menu Challenge has finally arrived!
Are you as thrilled as I am? I've been working steadily on this project for two months - trying out test recipes, choosing menus for the next six months, typing everything up, formatting and getting it ready to share. It's been a lot of work, but I'm so excited to share these recipes with you all. It's been hard not to get cooking already!
So, are you ready?

First up, I want to put in a disclaimer. I'm starting this ration menu challenge, and I'm going to follow it the best I can, but I'm just like you - busy with life and all the little moments of chaos that come up when they're the least expected. This isn't a hardcore challenge. Remember that it's for fun, for learning about a cool era of historical cooking in America, and to get yourself into your kitchen trying out some new recipes! If you find some fabulous new favorites, even better.

Grapefruit
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I kept it mostly the same with only a few changes due to what we had on hand:
Orange slices
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If ever there was a myth about history it would be this: Things were dirt cheap back then.

Were they really?
And this is where I rub my hands together and cackle with geeky glee. Just like we shouldn't judge our ancestors solely based on current standards and social norms, we shouldn't judge prices of yesteryear by today's dollar value.

I'll give you some examples.

(And don't worry. I'm not going to get super technical or get all crazy on the math, because Math is not my strongest subject. I'll fully admit I got my math-savvy husband to help me remember the equations I learned from my college economics class.)

I was looking in one of my Health-for-Victory meal planning guide from 1943. They stated that if you followed their meal plan, you could expect to spend between $14 - $16 a week on groceries. You're probably thinking, WOW! I'd love to pay $14/week for groceries! But what's the value of 1943's $14 in our current year of 2015?